My family once owned property on the north end of Blakeley Island. I remember our little sail boat, and lazy summer days with it in the Peavine Pass area. Looks like maybe some snow on the dock. It's not uncommon to have fog, especially in the mornings.
Thanks to everyone who offered up suggestions for blending the two identical, but of different ages backdrop scenes. A lot of good ideas. Checked my artist supply box for paints this AM and came up with a very light blue which was still not light enough so some white was blended in to lighten. Applied with a soft brush this AM and almost totally dry and from the front of the layout or at the three foot rule the join line in the sky area is pretty much taken care of. Did brush a later coat of some straight white over all and carried that well onto both sky sheets. Now I have to tackle the terrain area where that line is really obvious. Fortunately with the water based acrylics I am using within about ten minutes or less I can brush another coat. So a couple of things will happen with this area. First I will attempt to tone down and blend some. Next I have already removed some trees and I am going to bash some taller trees to go in there. In fact I may make at least one as a half tree to affix directly to the backdrop and have pop out like a 3D tree. May take some white and attempt to do some morning mist and I am still thinking about steam exhaust from the stamp mill stacks. I have some fiber optic rods somewhere that may be a nice almost invisible support for the steam and smoke. And one of the felines decided to help out sometime during the night by removing two trees from the area I will be working. I hate that when they can read my mind. After blending sky at the join line. 100_4564-1 by John Moore posted Jul 20, 2015 at 9:45 AM And about an hour later I have gone back to blend in the streams in the backdrop to the layout stream at the edges and then started applying the mist and fog and I did it in areas across the backdrop with just a bit heavier in the joint line. Another view from the 3 foot line. 100_4565-2 by John Moore posted Jul 20, 2015 at 11:17 AM
That blending appears to be helping quite a bit. The last photo, I needed to actually look, to really see the line.
A second coat of fog and mist was applied along with a third coat later this afternoon. Did quite a bit to blend the two backdrop sections but a fine line remains although much harder to see now. Visible in this shot is also the water that feeds the culverts under the track and the falls on the right coming from the lake. Same blue was used for that as the sky area just not cut with white as the sky was. 100_4568-5 by John Moore posted Jul 20, 2015 at 3:03 PM From the left side one can see where I extended the water course coming from another valley to connect to the stream with the rail bridge which flow under the trestles. Some of the lifting fog and mist added can be seen across the trees in the backdrop. 100_4569-6 by John Moore posted Jul 20, 2015 at 3:03 PM And the answer to that pesky remaining fine line in the lower area of the backdrop? Put a tree in front of it. While I have a few tall trees that came out of that area none are tall enough. So I will simply extend them with some wood dowel that I had scribed and stained for big log loads awhile back. Once I determine the need additional height I will then drill out one end to insert the peg from the tree armature into it and glue it in. If I need a few more lower branches I have some armatures in a box that I can simply trim the branches off of and drill out the added trunk to accept the few lower branches. Saves me having to order some taller, probably HO scale trees. Show below is one of the trees, the wood dowel for extending, and the Acrylics that I have been using for both the rock and terrain coloring and the backdrop. They are an inexpensive brand known as Artist's Loft that I get from Michael's and they come in a fairly large assortment of base colors that can be easily blended to other shades. My rock washes are a blend of about four different colors to get the shade I needed all done on an artist pallet by taking a dab from each color and blending in a separate area until you get what suits your eye. Unlike modeler's paints which can dry to a different shade than when wet these dry to the same shade as on your brush. 100_4567-4 by John Moore posted Jul 20, 2015 at 3:03 PM I still am going to add the stack exhaust to the stamp mill and mine and feather it back to the backdrop most likely using the small fiber optic threads I have. I will then use the taller trees being installed to anchor the other end while the rod itself is small enough to fit in the stack openings and be anchored there. A fine hole drilled in the backdrop will take some of the steam and smoke plume above the trees. When I finally manage to get this phase done I will then start the end backdrop sections and add the last foliage to the lighthouse end.
Thinking on it a little- This may be the first time I have ever seen someone simulate fog, in any fashion, on their layout.
From an earlier time on a module. The Class A will reappear on this layout and the little house behind it is now the lighthouse keeper's house on the current layout. Sawmill at Pitt by John Moore posted May 29, 2006 at 2:06 PM I have seen the effect done before but by who and where and in what scale eludes me.
Like the fog a fading effects John. Makes for a nice save and an interesting scene! Would suggest placing that tall tree slightly off the center of the seam to draw the eye away from the seam line. Distractions and such can really fool a viewer!
Actually several tall trees so the lower bit of joint line that shows slightly will be completely blocked as the sky part pretty much has vanished. If I go ahead with the steam and smoke plume from the mill stacks they will be part of the anchor for them. While my Wife was out running some errands I had her looking for some roll cotton for me. Plan to use that since I can get some long continuous fluffy strands out of that and then fix it into shape with some cheap hair spray. I will get my own for that since my survival instinct is too strong to even think of using hers.
Needing some taller trees and not wanting to spend more money and wait for them I was able to assemble the raw material for some trunk extensions of the trees I had removed at the joint line of the backdrop when I was working on it. 100_4570-1 by John Moore posted Jul 21, 2015 at 1:49 PM With Deekus supervising I ACC'd some panel nails that were recessed into holes drilled in the dowel end for mounting on the layout later. I also drilled out the dowel at random spots for branches that I would cut from some surplus Woodland Scenic's tree armatures and Acc in the holes. 100_4571-2 by John Moore posted Jul 21, 2015 at 1:49 PM Photo of the extensions with the branches grafted on and drying. The top end of each is drilled out to accept the mounting peg of the original tree and all I have to do now is match up the trunk color then apply clump foliage to the branches. The original tree at 100 N scale feet becomes a tree at 160 N scale feet. 100_4572-3 by John Moore posted Jul 21, 2015 at 1:49 PM Dekkus is now worn out after a morning of tree building and into a serious power nap which I am going to go do myself once I have glued the original trees onto the extended trunks.
After a coat of Raw Umber to blend the added tree trunks to the originals and setting overnight I added the foliage about noon. Still has a bit of the Hobby Tac adhesive drying where I got it a bit heavy thus the white spots showing here and there. In about another hour all will be dried and vanished and I will apply a spray of CHEAP Aqua Net Super Holding hair spray guaranteed to hold ones toupee or curls in place in a Hurricane. Then I will be ready to plant them on the layout. The tallest is about 160 feet while the shortest is about 110 feet. 100_4573-1 by John Moore posted Jul 22, 2015 at 1:11 PM This time Toby has supervisory duties and is seen heavily involved in them in the back.
Spray paint the cat green...and it would look just like a nice green rolling hill in the background...lol
Easy for y'all to say, you won't have to dodge a very upset cat, then John's wife finds out why the cat was painted.
Wrong shade of green. Deekus is so ADHD and hyperactive that any attempt to paint her would be a disaster of Biblical proportions not to mention the cause of copious bloodshed on my part. And the Big Guy would be an entire mountain range. And a spray water bottle is a discipline tool so I would get no where near them. I just got through spraying the trees with the hairspray and it cleared out the room except for Toby my super curious technical geek cat. And I don't want to even think of the reaction of my Missus at seeing a green cat, who is a one woman rescue league for anything injured. Everything in the area that gets hurt seems to know to drag themselves to our rear patio. So I suspect that I would be sleeping at night in my van, maybe until this coming winter when She might take pity on me and let me come in to sleep on a rug on the kitchen floor to get warm, that is if the cats let me in. So other than using a naturally shed whisker as a car retainer I think it would be most healthy for me to leave well enough alone, and continue to research methods that prevent Callie from taking occasional strolls down the upper level mainline on her way to her sleeping loft in my closet. And that has me thinking about that smoke and steam from the stamp mill stacks and them. And I am thinking about suspending a seaplane or flying boat that would be on its way to a landing in Friday Harbor. Would I be placing temptation in front of them. Look guys beside the mini meeces there is now a boidie flying around there. I get the bat it first.
A suspended plane would even temp me...let alone the cats !!! That one ya may wanna rethink...lol. The stem/smoke from the stack...i dunno. If one of the cats is using that area as a shortcut to her nap place...well...you know cats better then me...whatcha really think ?
Well I have a couple of smaller seaplanes that could be suspended off a small fiber optic rod rather than a thread and it would probably be far less visible, I am thinking of coming right out of the backdrop. As far as the stroll down the upper main it is the shortest way from the window to the storage boxes at one end where she launches herself up to the top shelf of the closet. Since I am going to outfit this with end sections while it serves as a stand alone layout that may end those occasional strolls. That and the low plexiglass front piece may be just enough to finally discourage the strolls.
